Cavity

//ˈkæv.ɪt.i// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A hole or hollow depression in a solid object.; A hollow area within the body.
  2. 2
    (anatomy) a natural hollow or sinus within the body wordnet
  3. 3
    A hole or hollow depression in a solid object.; The female part of a mold: the depression itself or (metonymically) the half of the mold that contains it.
  4. 4
    a sizeable hole (usually in the ground) wordnet
  5. 5
    A small or large hole in a tooth caused by caries; often also a soft area adjacent to the hole also affected by caries.

    "Jim got two cavities filled at the dentist's office yesterday."

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    soft decayed area in a tooth; progressive decay can lead to the death of a tooth wordnet
  2. 7
    space that is surrounded by something wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
cariespitabysmabyssalveolationalveolus

Example

More examples

"Since I developed this cavity, my tooth has been really sensitive to heat and cold."

Etymology

From Middle French cavité or Late Latin cavitās, from cav(i) (“hollow, excavated, concave”) + -tās (“-ity”, nominal suffix). First attested in the Mid-16th c.

Related phrases

body cavity searchcavity QEDcavity magnetroncavity quantum electrodynamicscavity resonatorcavity searchcavity wallcotyloid cavitygastrovascular cavitymicrowave resonant cavity thrustermouth cavitypelvic cavity

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.